The tomb of Zenyel Bey, Hasankeyf – Locals watch the tomb of Zenyel Bey transported in May 2017. The 15th century monument, dedicated to a figure from the Ak Koyunlu, a Turkmen tribe, was moved away from ground at risk of flooding due to a hydroelectric dam project in southeast Turkey. The Ak Koyunlu, which translates as “White Sheep,” once ruled Anatolia, Azerbaijan and northern Iraq in the 14th to early-16th century AD.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Hasankeyf – Other monuments from the ancient city on the banks of the Tigris will also be moved according to CNN Turk, including tombs, mosques and minarets. Hasankeyf has a 12,000-year history and contains many neolithic caves.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Xanthos – Xanthos was the principal city of Lycia, in southwest Turkey. Mentioned in Homer’s “Iliad,” set during the Trojan Wars, the city was later attacked in the 6th century BC by Persian king Cyrus II.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The city rose again and fought the Romans in the 1st century BC. Xanthos’ rock-cut tombs are among its best known features, like this Lycian sarcophagus dated from the 4th century BC.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Roman spa, Allianoi – Allianoi in eastern Turkey was once a significant Roman thermal spa famed for its spring waters and healing center. Pictured in 2008, the archaeological site near Bergama dates back to the second century AD. The site was discovered in 1998 during routine excavation on a proposed dam site and was flooded after the construction of the Yortanli Dam.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Roman spa, Allianoi – The dam is the same to later threaten Hasankeyf. Some items including statues were removed from Allianoi before workers reburied the spa in sand in September 2010 to protect it from the coming flood waters.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Byzantine skipwrecks, Istanbul – Infrastructure work in Istanbul has revealed layers of the city’s history for over a decade. In 2006 Byzantine ships were discovered as part of the Marmaray tunnel project across the Bosphorus strait; relics of the ancient port of Theodosius, once thought to be lost by archaeologists. The tunnel opened in 2013, but not before digs had yielded a huge number of ships, along with jetties and docks.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Amasra, a port on the Black Sea coast of northern Turkey, was once part of the Roman empire. Last month Roman ruins washed up on the shore after a storm.

The Anatolian peninsula, which makes up much of modern-day Turkey, is rich with the legacy of empires past. Scroll through the gallery to discover more of the region’s ancient treasures.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The Library of Celsus, Ephesus – The Library of Celsus in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus in modern day Izmir. Once a key locale for Greece on Asia Minor, the city in western Turkey has origins dating back to the 7th century BC.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The Great Theater, Ephesus – Said to have capacity for 25,000 people, its size helps archaeologists understand the scale of the ancient city’s population. Dating from the 3rd century BC, the Hellenistic structure played a part in entertainment as well as political and religious gatherings.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The Tomb of Amyntas, Telmessos – The final resting place of “Amyntas, son of Hermagios” dates from the mid-4th century BC. Cut into the hillside overlooking the modern city of Fethiye, close to the Aegean Sea, it was built by the Lycians of Telmessos, a city-state that would go on to be conquered by Alexander the Great.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Roman theater, Aspendos – Three miles south of Belkis in southern Turkey are the ruins of Aspendos, a Greco-Roman city that passed into the hands of the latter in 189 BC. The site’s colossal theater dedicated to Marcus Aurelius remains its star attraction.

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Temple of Apollo, Side – A full solar eclipse in Side, 2006. Founded by Aeolian Greeks, invaded by Alexander and at one time turned into a slave market by Cilician pirates, perhaps its most famous landmark is the Hellenic Temple of Apollo (pictured).

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Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The tomb of Zenyel Bey, Hasankeyf – Locals watch the tomb of Zenyel Bey transported in May 2017. The 15th century monument, dedicated to a figure from the Ak Koyunlu, a Turkmen tribe, was moved away from ground at risk of flooding due to a hydroelectric dam project in southeast Turkey. The Ak Koyunlu, which translates as “White Sheep,” once ruled Anatolia, Azerbaijan and northern Iraq in the 14th to early-16th century AD.

Hide Caption

7 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Hasankeyf – Other monuments from the ancient city on the banks of the Tigris will also be moved according to CNN Turk, including tombs, mosques and minarets. Hasankeyf has a 12,000-year history and contains many neolithic caves.

Hide Caption

8 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Xanthos – Xanthos was the principal city of Lycia, in southwest Turkey. Mentioned in Homer’s “Iliad,” set during the Trojan Wars, the city was later attacked in the 6th century BC by Persian king Cyrus II.

Hide Caption

9 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The city rose again and fought the Romans in the 1st century BC. Xanthos’ rock-cut tombs are among its best known features, like this Lycian sarcophagus dated from the 4th century BC.

Hide Caption

10 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Roman spa, Allianoi – Allianoi in eastern Turkey was once a significant Roman thermal spa famed for its spring waters and healing center. Pictured in 2008, the archaeological site near Bergama dates back to the second century AD. The site was discovered in 1998 during routine excavation on a proposed dam site and was flooded after the construction of the Yortanli Dam.

Hide Caption

11 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Roman spa, Allianoi – The dam is the same to later threaten Hasankeyf. Some items including statues were removed from Allianoi before workers reburied the spa in sand in September 2010 to protect it from the coming flood waters.

Hide Caption

12 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Byzantine skipwrecks, Istanbul – Infrastructure work in Istanbul has revealed layers of the city’s history for over a decade. In 2006 Byzantine ships were discovered as part of the Marmaray tunnel project across the Bosphorus strait; relics of the ancient port of Theodosius, once thought to be lost by archaeologists. The tunnel opened in 2013, but not before digs had yielded a huge number of ships, along with jetties and docks.

Hide Caption

13 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Amasra, a port on the Black Sea coast of northern Turkey, was once part of the Roman empire. Last month Roman ruins washed up on the shore after a storm.

The Anatolian peninsula, which makes up much of modern-day Turkey, is rich with the legacy of empires past. Scroll through the gallery to discover more of the region’s ancient treasures.

Hide Caption

1 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The Library of Celsus, Ephesus – The Library of Celsus in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus in modern day Izmir. Once a key locale for Greece on Asia Minor, the city in western Turkey has origins dating back to the 7th century BC.

Hide Caption

2 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The Great Theater, Ephesus – Said to have capacity for 25,000 people, its size helps archaeologists understand the scale of the ancient city’s population. Dating from the 3rd century BC, the Hellenistic structure played a part in entertainment as well as political and religious gatherings.

Hide Caption

3 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The Tomb of Amyntas, Telmessos – The final resting place of “Amyntas, son of Hermagios” dates from the mid-4th century BC. Cut into the hillside overlooking the modern city of Fethiye, close to the Aegean Sea, it was built by the Lycians of Telmessos, a city-state that would go on to be conquered by Alexander the Great.

Hide Caption

4 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Roman theater, Aspendos – Three miles south of Belkis in southern Turkey are the ruins of Aspendos, a Greco-Roman city that passed into the hands of the latter in 189 BC. The site’s colossal theater dedicated to Marcus Aurelius remains its star attraction.

Hide Caption

5 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

Temple of Apollo, Side – A full solar eclipse in Side, 2006. Founded by Aeolian Greeks, invaded by Alexander and at one time turned into a slave market by Cilician pirates, perhaps its most famous landmark is the Hellenic Temple of Apollo (pictured).

Hide Caption

6 of 13

Photos:Age of empires: Anatolia’s archeological treasures

The tomb of Zenyel Bey, Hasankeyf – Locals watch the tomb of Zenyel Bey transported in May 2017. The 15th century monument, dedicated to a figure from the Ak Koyunlu, a Turkmen tribe, was moved away from ground at risk of flooding due to a hydroelectric dam project in southeast Turkey. The Ak Koyunlu, which translates as “White Sheep,” once ruled Anatolia, Azerbaijan and northern Iraq in the 14th to early-16th century AD.

Hide Caption

7 of 13

(CNN)The Black Sea gave up a few more of its secrets when storms whipped the coast of Amasra, northern Turkey, last month.

A number of Roman ruins dating from the first to third century AD washed ashore, the latest remnants to emerge of the ancient Anatolian city of Amastris.

The objects were found by locals walking the shoreline who noticed carved marble and other masonry among the rocks. The marble remnants are indicative of a period of construction during the reign of Roman emperor Septimius Severus (193-211 AD) says Baran Aydin, director of the Amasra Museum.

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Severus, a military leader who took control in the bloody Year of the Five Emperors, oversaw the Roman Empire when it controlled approximately half the coastline of the Black Sea. Amastris significantly predates his rule. The city, 184 miles east of Istanbul, was founded by Persian princess Amastrine in the early fourth century BC and passed between Roman, Byzantine, Genoese and Ottoman control in the last two millennia.

“We know from old travelers’ reports there were some very spectacular temples in Amastris,” Aydin says. It’s possible, he adds, that parts of the find came from these Roman temples.

Roman ruins retrieved from the shoreline of Amasra, where the ancient city on Amastris once stood.

How the ruins ended up in the sea is more of a mystery. Speculation is rife that objects could have been discarded at sea many years ago by construction workers.

“I guess those fragments were dumped in history,” says Aydin, adding such an occurrence is not unusual for Amasra. “In those times people didn’t know the meaning of these ruins.”

There’s a certain poetry to their fate: according to Ancient Greek writer Memnon of Heraclea, Amastrine was drowned at sea at the hands of her two sons.

Archaeologists have found the Black Sea, east of the Mediterranean, a source of perennial curiosity. Its waters below 500 feet contain no oxygen, aiding preservation, and some estimate hundreds, maybe thousands of shipwrecks lie on the seabed in remarkable condition.

But his past rhetoric belies that “fact.” Simply put: Trump has engaged in an aggressive effort to discredit Mueller, his team and the investigation more broadly.

On Friday, that effort got even more difficult. Rick Gates, Trump’s one-time deputy campaign chairman, pleaded guilty to two criminal charges and agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s broader investigation.

That makes three former Trump campaign officials — Gates, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and ex-foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos — to plead guilty and agree to cooperate with Mueller.

A fourth, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, faces a bevy of charges from Mueller of money laundering and bank fraud, but continues to maintain his innocence.

And then there are the 13 Russian nationals the special counsel’s office charged last Friday for their alleged involvement in a massive scheme designed to influence the 2016 election to help Trump and hurt Hillary Clinton.

Those are all facts. Neither the media nor Democrats forced Gates, Flynn and Papadopoulos to plead guilty and cut deals to cooperate with Mueller. Ditto the charges against Manafort and the Russians.

The Point: Trump can claim the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt” until the cows come home. Some people will believe him. But the mounting charges and guilty pleas suggest otherwise

Washington (CNN)Concerns about Russian aggression is driving billions of dollars in US arms sales to European nations. The weapons deliveries are also part of the Trump administration’s wider efforts to confront Russia in the region.

The Trump administration announced Wednesday that the State Department had approved a potential sale of the Patriot missile system, including some 100 missiles, to Sweden.

The system’s missiles are capable of intercepting short- and medium-range ballistic missiles as well as drones.

US and European officials have expressed concern that Russia has recently deployed new missiles to its European exclave Kaliningrad, which sits on the Baltic coast between Poland and Lithuania.

A US defense official based in Europe said Moscow’s recent deployment of its Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad was “the biggest move we’ve seen” in terms of Russia’s militarization of the Baltics.

“They’ve always had ballistic missiles there; this kind of brings a significantly longer range than they had there previously,” the defense official told CNN.

He said the nuclear-capable missiles can potentially threaten large parts of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany and Sweden.

“These sales are a response to not only Russia’s increasing military activity, but also to the fact that Russia is modernizing its Air Force and long-range strike capabilities,” Magnus Nordenman, the director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Washington-based Atlantic Council, told CNN.

“Russia may not have as many aircraft and long-range missiles as the Soviet Union did during the Cold War, but the Russian systems of today are far more capable than their Cold War ancestors,” he added.

America’s allies in the region have sought capabilities that would allow them to counter Russian missiles.

Poland announced its interest in the Patriot Missile System with the State Department approving its approval of a possible sale of $10 billion version of the system to Poland in November 2017.

While Polish officials initially balked at the hefty price tag, Poland’s Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak wrote on twitter late last month that his government had managed to obtain a lower price and accelerated delivery time for the system, adding that he expected Poland to sign a final contract by the end of the first quarter of 2018.

Romania, similarly concerned about Russia’s military activities in the Black Sea following its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine, has also sought the missile system. Raytheon, the manufacturer, announced last month that Romania had formally signed an agreement, known as a letter of offer and acceptance, to purchase the Patriot system.

Poland and Romania are two of only six NATO members that spend the recommended 2% of gross domestic product on defense.

And while Sweden is not a member of NATO, it has sought to reinforce its position in the region, increasing its cooperation with the Western alliance and sending troops to the Swedish island of Gotland which sits in a strategic location in the Baltic Sea.

“There is real concern in these regions about Russian aggression,” Nordenman said.

The US State Department said in the statement announcing the sale’s approval: “The proposed sale of the Patriot missile system will improve Sweden’s missile defense capability. Sweden will use the Patriot system to defend its territorial integrity and promote regional stability.”

“The proposed sale will increase the defensive capabilities of the Swedish military and support interoperability with US and NATO forces,” the statement added.

Finland, another non-NATO member that has expressed concern about Russia’s military activity following Moscow’s armed intervention in Ukraine, has also sought to improve its military capabilities.

The State Department announced this month that it approved the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of naval weapons, to include Harpoon and Sea Sparrow missiles, to help bolster Finland’s navy.

And while Finland and Sweden are not members of NATO, experts believe these purchases of equipment will strengthen their relationship with NATO and the US.

“Big equipment sales is a great way to invest in a defense relationship,” Nordenman said. “You are not only buying a thing, you are also investing in training, exercises, and a linkage with the US that will last for decades.”